Community Corner

Miss Pre-Teen Amazing Finds Her Sponsor(s)

West Deptford's Kayla Baylor needed some help to represent New Jersey in the national pageant for women with disabilities—and the community responded.

A week ago, New Jersey Miss Pre-Teen Amazing Kayla Baylor had slim hopes of taking her crown to the next level at the national pageant.

And within five days she was swimming in more goodwill than she knew what to do with.

The community response to Baylor's story was overwhelming. In three months of fundraising, she had only collected $50 towards her $3,000 goal.

But when last week's story in West Deptford Patch was picked up by Fox 29, donations started pouring in for the eighth-grader.

By Friday, West Deptford Mayor Ray Chintall, who personally gave $100 towards the effort, had secured a pledge from RiverWinds Restaurant owner Foti Farmakis to guarantee that Baylor would have enough money to take her trip.

By Monday, word of her story had delivered Baylor beyond her goal by a few hundred dollars. Even knowing that, an Avon rep who set up a parallel, $1,000 fundraiser, will donate 40 percent of whatever she raises to Kayla's trip.

And there's more to come.

On Friday at 3 p.m., RiverWinds restaurant will host a special send-off for Baylor, with supporters from the township Committee on the Disabled, representatives from ASPEN, the Asperger Autism Spectrum Education Network, and other well-wishers on hand to celebrate.

'A true part of the community fabric'

Chintall said that when he heard of Baylor's story, he was was "disappointed that she was in that quandary."

Chintall put out feelers in the community to see if anyone could help, and Farmakis stepped up. 

"It truly shows that businesses like RiverWinds restaurant are a true part of the fabric of West Deptford," the mayor said.

"We've been in business for a long time," Farmakis said, "and we appreciate all the people that have been customers for years.

"We work long hours, but whatever we have, we have for the customers," he said.

Getting to Nebraska, where the finals will be held later this month, was a trip that Baylor's mom, JoAnn Colaneri, simply had no chance of affording on part-time hours.

But Colaneri also knew that the pageant, which celebrates women with disabilities, could make a big difference for her daughter's mental and emotional health. 

Baylor, 13, suffers from Asperger's syndrome; cruelly, her disorder is expressed as social anxiety, and she has been bullied for it.

But as she leaves for Nebraska, West Deptford's Miss Amazing will hopefully see that love also lives in her hometown.

As she rises to meet those challenges she has yet to face, may she remember that love, in the face of long odds, is what bore her to her goal.


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